Marchers Back Hastings In Impeachment Fight

April 14, 1987|By VALERIE HILL-MORGAN, Staff Writer

FORT LAUDERDALE -- More than 300 demonstrators marched to the steps of the federal courthouse in downtown Fort Lauderdale on Monday to protest the recommended impeachment of U.S. District Judge Alcee Hastings.

Chanting ``Justice! Free Alcee!`` and singing We Shall Overcome, the demonstrators walked the several blocks from a church to the courthouse on East Broward Boulevard to support Hastings, Florida`s first black federal judge.

``We feel it`s unfair, unjust and a bum rap,`` said Jerry Carter, a member of the Alpha Psi Kappa fraternity, of which Hastings is a member. ``It would not continue to be pursued if he had been any other color.``

Hastings, 50, a U.S. District Court judge in Miami, is facing impeachment proceedings because of a bribery conspiracy charge brought against him six years ago.

The march, sponsored by the fraternity and by the Afro American Legal Defense Committee, sought to call attention to Hastings` plight and to continue raising money for his legal defense. The committee has raised $2,500 and gotten more than $10,000 in pledges.

Activist John Ruffin, who owns radio station WRBD-AM, was one of those who supported the group`s effort.

``We`ve seen our more outstanding black leaders fall,`` said Ruffin, pointing to the resignation of former Broward County Administrator Floyd Johnson. ``We`ve got to stop this kind of erosion.``

Hastings, a Lauderhill resident, was appointed to the federal bench by President Carter in 1979. Four years later, a jury acquitted Hastings of charges that he and Washington lawyer William A. Borders Jr. solicited a $150,000 bribe to reduce the sentences of two convicted racketeers. Borders was convicted and sent to prison.

An appeals court in Atlanta concluded in a confidential report that Hastings lied in his own defense at his trial. The U.S. Judicial Conference backed the appeals court last month, voting to ask the U.S. House of Representatives to impeach Hastings.

The case has been referred to the House subcommittee on criminal justice, headed by Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich. Republican Reps. Henry Hyde of Illinois and James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin have introduced a resolution in the House calling for Hastings` impeachment and have pledged to make sure the case isn`t buried in committee.

Hastings, who was presiding over a trial in Miami during Monday`s march, said in a statement by telephone that he was moved by the community`s support.

``The activities of all of the people from South Florida who demonstrated their support are indicative of the kind of support I have received worldwide,`` he said. ``My spirit has been high throughout the six years of this ordeal. Today, my spirit soars beyond the stratosphere. . . . I thank God for their support.``

Organizers of the march presented petitions bearing 2,632 signatures from Broward County residents to an aide of U.S. Rep. E. Clay Shaw, R-Fort Lauderdale, on the courthouse steps Monday.